Boredom

[tbieter]

But can a person be boring ? Yes; see my post herein.
Up to a point you can predict a person´s reactions perhaps, but only up to a point, there is always lots of room for surprise.

Every person is a universe full of surprises.

Idle chit chat was criticised by AS. But lots of interesting messages can be expressed by the tone of the voice and the rest of the body language. What we need is patience and a relaxed eye and ear.

[Skip]

But can´t we willfully influence the state of our mind and ask ourselves interesting questions about something not so exciting at first sight ?
Then we can speculate about it and get stimulation from inside.

Sure we can. Well, most healthy people, in most normal situations can. But you have to do a cost/benefit evaluation. Is an activity that doesn't challenge you worth the trouble of working up an interest, when you can just as easily, or little more effort, find an activity that has the potential of both stimulating your interest and developing your abilities? Is it worth trying to prolong ever-diminishing returns, when you could instead, do something more productive?

ETA In the case of a boring friend or spouse, people usually do keep trying to find something of interest in the other. But the rewards get smaller and smaller, and you finally think: It's never going to get any better than this. Someone you are deeply invested in, and with whom you share vital projects, must be able to provide you with some of the regenerative material you lose to the world. If there is no mutual growth and gratification in the marriage, and no potential for increasing those essential resources, you might as well be in solitary confinement as stay married. Anyway, divorce gives the other person, also, the chance to find someone who thinks he's fascinating.

If you are at a loss in restricted situations - didn't bring a book for the tram, or have a long wait in a restaurant, of course you can find something to notice and comment to yourself about (Be as snarky as you like - "Whoever told you yellow was your colour is your enemy." "Don't serve him dessert!!", but you must be very, very careful that no sound slips out.) or even make mental notes for a story. During symphony concerts - which I find rather boring - I watch the performers and the audience, which is mildly entertaining..... But I'd rather be watching 'Elementary'.

That leaves out the depressed people. They have limited emotional resources and sometimes can't work up the energy to put interest into boring things or situations. For them, a change of scene, or some kind of external jolt, is sometimes necessary. The neglected invalids or prisoners in solitary can't find a new way to look at the same green walls, because they've used up all their imaginative power, pretending to be elsewhere. The teenagers don't want stimulation - they've worked too hard at shutting out stimuli in order to become bored with everything. The burned-out graphics designer shouldn't stimulate himself even he's able to: his boredom is a message from the subconscious that his imagination is overloaded and he needs rest. Also, of course, ennui may be a symptom to mask something more profoundly wrong in a person's work or home life.

There are possible and appropriate cures for each type of boredom. And who says we always need to relieve it? The ordinary, temporary kind of boredom isn't hard to bear, like an itch, that requires attention. What's wrong with just being bored once in a while?

[artisticsolution]

Idle chit chat was criticised by AS. But lots of interesting messages can be expressed by the tone of the voice and the rest of the body language. What we need is patience and a relaxed eye and ear.

I don't remember that thread...who's idle chit chat did I criticize?

[bergie15]

There is really nothing wrong with being bored. It's just that sometimes people do not want to or have the energy to find some way to occupy their time, I think.

[Dalek Prime]

There's everything wrong with being bored. Boredom and tedium are just more forms of suffering. Not agonizing, on a scale, but still...

[Skip]

So, find something to do.

[Dalek Prime]

I didn't say I was bored. I said boredom is a form of suffering.

But yeah, come to think of it, I'm pretty bored.

[Skip]

Do you need help figuring out the reason for your boredom?
Once you understand the cause(s), there is a good chance of finding a way to alleviate them. The causes are not always amenable to relief, but they very often are. And, as I've said, sometimes boredom itself is not the actual problem but a symptom of some deeper problem, in which case, it might take longer and be more difficult to ascertain, to evaluate and to work out possible approaches to solving.
However, the process of observation, diagnosis and trying out various methods of alleviation is not boring; to that extent, addressing the problem is in itself a solution to the problem.

[Dalek Prime]

I should have mentioned I was half kidding on the second sentence lol!

[Skip]

So, able to cope on your own, then. Good. Hate to see any fellow creature suffer.

[Dalek Prime]

So, able to cope on your own, then. Good. Hate to see any fellow creature suffer.

Thanks though, Skip. Appreciated.

[tbieter]

In a few days, I'll start reading A Philosophy of Boredom by Lars Svendsen.
http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Boredo ... BTYXP3AGGN

Since every normal person experiences boredom occasionally, why not try your hand at defining the term?

Here is my definition: Boredom is a temporary cessation of one's interest in and relation to things.

Thanks for your contribution.

Tonight I finished the book. My definition is quite accurate for both situational and existential boredom.

[tbieter]

In a few days, I'll start reading A Philosophy of Boredom by Lars Svendsen.
http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Boredo ... BTYXP3AGGN

Since every normal person experiences boredom occasionally, why not try your hand at defining the term?

Here is my definition: Boredom is a temporary cessation of one's interest in and relation to things.

Thanks for your contribution.

Tonight I finished the book. My definition is quite accurate for both situational and existential boredom.

The author provides an extensive discussion of Andy Warhol, the"artist", who was shot by a radical feminist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOtjnUIns0E
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Solanas#Legacy

[duszek]

Boredom in Italian is called "noia".

How boring ! = Che noia !

Is paranoia connected with boredom somehow ?

Para noia = for boredom ?

Petit Robert says that paranoia comes from Greek. Does anyone speak Greek here ?